Samsung Galaxy S23+ Review: Unleash Your Potential with the Advanced S23+
April 8, 2023Performance: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 5G, 8 GB RAM
Main Display: 6.6-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x
Weight: 196g
Storage: 256 & 512 GB
Battery: 4,700 mAh
Features: 8K / 4K UHD / 1080p / 720p HD video recording
Rear Camera: 12 MP Ultra-wide, 50 Wide, 10 MP Telephoto
Front Camera: 12 MP, 4K Video recording
Price: 5,199
Samsung’s S23Ultra has received lavish praise from Youtubers, mainstream media and general consumers for being an extremely capable smartphone. It’s basically a Note series with a different name. The S23+ on the other hand, is meant for people who want the same magic but prefer a slightly smaller form factor and who have no use for a stylus.
The S series are designed to cater to the needs of modern-day users who demand more from their gadgets. With its advanced features and sleek design, S23+ promises to imrpove the way we interact with our devices. From its impressive display to its lightning-fast performance.
The Display & Design
The display of the S23+ boasts a large, edge-to-edge screen that provides an immersive viewing experience. Whether you’re watching movies, playing games, or simply browsing the web, the display delivers vivid colors and sharp images that bring your content to life.
The display also features advanced features such as HDR10+ and Dynamic AMOLED 2X technology, which work together to provide exceptional brightness, contrast, and color accuracy. It produces deep blacks, which makes content on the screen seem impressive.
This ensures that your content looks stunning no matter where you are, even in bright sunlight. Additionally, the device’s display features an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor integrated into the screen, allowing for a smooth and quick biometric authentication.
The Design
The S23+ has a sleek look similar to its predecessor. However, the contours especially around the camera array, have been tempered slightly for a minimalistic look. The phone also features a slim profile with curved edges, giving it a smooth and seamless feel in your hand. The back and the front of the device are covered with high-quality glass that is supposed be stronger than what we had before. The S23+ design is not just about aesthetics because it features a water-resistant and dust-resistant body, making it durable and reliable even in harsh environments.
The buttons and ports are thoughtfully placed for ease of use, and the device’s slim profile ensures that it is easy to carry around. You’ll be happy to know that it comes in a range of colors from phantom black to vibrant shades of Green, Cream, and Lavender.
The Camera
These days, people are frequently taking photos at night with low-lighting situations. That’s where the S23+ shines, with its ability to enhance the background and provide perfect accuracy in pictures, even in low-light situations.
One of the reasons why most smartphones struggle with night photography is due to the lack of exposure to light. Daylight provides a sufficient amount of light to capture the moment, but at night, it’s a different story. However, the S23+ overcomes this limitation with its ability to enhance the background and provide accurate details with a single click.
Regardless of the lighting conditions, you can expect to capture well-exposed, natural shots with sufficient detail in the foreground and background. Since the camera hardware works hand in hand with the AI, each picture is captured with better precision compared to the S22Plus.
Let’s not forget about portrait mode. It focuses on you and blurs the background, creating stunning night-time portraits. When it comes to video recording, the S23+ is a top performer at night, providing smooth zooming and focusing on the object being recorded. This feature is particularly useful for those who enjoy creating TikTok videos or recording nighttime scenery.
Though adept at nightography, there is a setback when it comes to zooming. The zoom level can be increased up to 30x, but there may be some fuzziness to the overall quality when using the feature at night. Therefore, it’s best to zoom in up to 20x and select the wide-angle lens to capture better quality footage.
Overall, the S23 Plus is an excellent smartphone for photography and videography. Its ability to enhance the background and provide accurate details makes it a top performer in low-light situations. Though not as impressive as the S23 Ultra, the overall quality doesn’t lag that far behind.
The difference between the two is only noticeable when comparing the results side by side. It’s bigger brother offers slightly crisper shots, better color science and overall cleaner exposure. This is in addition to far superior zooming capabilities, which the S23+ simply cannot match.
The Processor
The S23+ is a smartphone that packs a powerful punch when it comes to performance. At the heart of the device is an advanced processor that ensures lightning-fast speeds and efficient multitasking capabilities.
It’s equipped with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. This chipset offers a significant improvement in performance over its predecessor, delivering faster speeds and improved power efficiency. This ensures that the device can handle even the most demanding tasks with ease, whether you’re playing games or running multiple apps at once.
But this isn’t just any Snapdragon chip, it’s been tuned just for the S series. This is why its called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. It performs a little better than the regular vanilla version but when compared to what powered the S22Plus, it’s far superior in every way.
In addition to its powerful processor, the S23+ also features 8GB of RAM, which ensures smooth and seamless performance, even when running multiple apps simultaneously. The device also comes with a choice of 256GB or 512GB of internal storage, giving you plenty of space to store all your apps, files, and media.
As a result, you can expect this phone to perform flawlessly for just about any task. I’ve opened multiple browser tabs, cycled through various messaging apps and dabled in a little gameplay of some demanding titles, and have yet to see the S23+ trip over itself.
Granted, the memory ceiling limit is a lot lower than that of the S23 Ultra, but unless you’re engaged in some hardcore 8K video recording or editing, the difference isn’t tangible. In terms of performance, its larger sibling can take on more work before buckling under the pressure. That said, unless you’re a content creator, the S23+ will never come up short.
The Battery
Compared to the previous model, the S22 Plus, the S23 Plus has slightly bigger battery. The former had 4,500mAh, which could provide users with a good one-day productivity. However, the latter’s 4,700mAh capacity allows it to last a whole day on a single charge (moderate to heavy usage). And by the end ot that day, you’ll still have 30% battery life left over.
Like it’s bigger brother, this phone supports 45W fast charging. However, the compatible charger isn’t included in the box, so you’ll need to use one that you already have or purchase a new unit. Unless you’re running low on battery power, you can expect a full charge in under an hour.
There’s also support for 15W wireless charging. Though I usually favour the non-tethered option, its difficult to ignore how quickly the battery gets charged when used with a wired charger.
Should you buy it?
the S23 Plus is a powerful and efficient device that is designed to keep up with the demands of the modern user. The increased battery capacity ensures that you can use your phone for more than just a day, while the 120Hz display provides a smooth and seamless experience.
Its powerful processor and ample RAM make it a great device for multitasking and getting work done on-the-go. The camera hardware, despite not being on par with the S23 Ultra, is more than capable of capturing great photos and videos for just about anyone.
If you’re in the market for a new smartphone and want that’s easy to carry, the S23+ is definitely worth considering. It has everything one could want from a flagship but at a more manageable size.
